How Do Brides Really Say “Yes” to the Dress?

Part of this romanticized culture means more pressure to find a dress that makes the bride outwardly emotional like on the shows. Brides at Ginger’s Closet often expect to cry (or make others cry) upon finding the dress, which doesn’t happen too often, says Kent. “Brides don’t always know that it’s the one,” she says. “There’s always some doubt in their mind or they don’t get that fairytale feeling.” Many brides have high expectations, wanting gowns like the ones on television. But gowns in Kleinfeld can be priced up to $40,000 U.S.

Sapandeep Basra is aware of these unrealistic expectations. The 26-year-old bride-to-be is an avid watcher of reality television. She even tried to convince her fiancé, Matthew Messina, to apply for Four Weddings Canada. While she says reality shows often highlight issues brides encounter while wedding planning, they tend to raise her hopes too high when it comes to dress shopping. When she walked into a Mississauga location of the chain store David’s Bridal, she expected everyone to be paying attention to her, she says. She quickly realized her experience wouldn’t be like the shows. The store was crawling with people and she was summoned into a tight corner. “I thought I would try on a dress and then step onto a little stage with lots of mirrors around me,” says Basra, “but it wasn’t like that at all.”

While reality television continues to infiltrate the wedding industry, a counter-culture of wedding planning is arising. Confessions of a Thrifty Bride is a website created by Jessica Bianchi, along with her sister and friend, who believe in cost-conscious weddings. “Brides on a budget can still have weddings like the ones in reality shows, they just have to be more creative,” says Bianchi. Her goal is to provide brides with tips about countering trends of frivolous spending shown in reality television.

Planning a wedding and finding a dress is something many girls dream of their whole lives, which is what makes brides fall into the misconceptions many reality shows portray, says Kent. “Reality shows are an extension of the fairytales we read when we were kids,” she says. “It’s thinking, one day I’ll be in the position of these people.”

Sources:

Aubrey Akalehiywot – Pearl Bridal House
Lynzie Kent – Ginger’s Closet
Sapandeep Basra – Bride-to-be
Jessica Bianchi – Co-founder of Confessions of a Thrifty Bride

—————————————-

ARB Team
Arbitrage Magazine
Business News with BITE.

Liked this article? Hated it? Comment below and share your opinions with other ARB readers!